I Surrender To My Inner Rush Nerd

"Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude."

The first time I heard Rush's song, The Spirit of Radio, I was 16 years old. The feeling of emotional electricity described in the tune, sizzled across my arms, leaving hairs standing on end. The tape deck in my '72 Chevy pick-up couldn't crank the song loud enough. It was the early 1990s and most of the student body at my high school did not consider Rush a cool band. As I drove into the school parking lot I would wind up the windows and hide the invisible airwaves crackling from my 8" Panasonics. Aside from one or two pals, I was alone in my Rush fandom. My girlfriend, at the time, wouldn't stand for me playing the Canadian prog-rock trio in her presence. She dismissed it as music for stoners and role playing geeks. Becoming a Rush fan proved to be a very solitary enterprise. Even now, my open-minded wife, who has an ear for everything from Bob Dylan to Radiohead, draws the line at Rush's odd time signatures and shrieking vocals ("I just can't stand his voice. I don't like guys who sing in that type of wizard voice."). Sarah's right, Geddy Lee does have a little sorcery in his voice. I guess it's one of the things I always liked about this band. In fact, most of the things I like about Rush are what others despise.

For over 20 years I have listened to their music in solitude.

The Concert Experience
Last Saturday I stood electrified in a crowd of over 10,000 people watching Rush (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart - now in their late 50s) play their hearts out at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. As they exploded into the chorus of Marathon, a thousand voices sang in unison around me.

"From first to last
The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes
One moment's high, and glory rolls on by
Like a streak of lightning
That flashes and fades in the summer sky"

Like a streak of lighting, I had a striking realization. All of those years I'd been following Rush; buying their albums, falling in love with their music, checking updates on their website, reading books by the band. All of this time... alone. It's been a very personal journey for me. So many conversations in my head. Yet, on that night, in the midst of this crowd of misfits and fanatics, my insular experience was now shared with thousands of people. It was cathartic. We screamed the lyrics to Tom Sawyer, played air drums to the monstrous instrumental, La Villa Strangiato, and pumped our fists to 2112's Overture. I surrendered effortlessly to my inner Rush nerd.

So why do I love Rush?

Top 16 Reasons I Love Rush

1. They rock as hard as any band on the planet.
2. They are one of the best rock trios in the world.
3. Their musical chemistry is unrivaled.
4. They write and perform some of the most difficult rock music known to their audience of long haired men in black t-shirts.
   
5. They are humble, unpretentious musicians who love what they do (except for the brief period in the late 70s when they wore those kabuki robes and wrote cryptic sci-fi bullshit in their record sleeves).
6. They have embraced every genre of music known to modern man and infused it into their music (with the exception of country). At times it's been awkward. But I've appreciated their efforts. Yes, I even like 1985's Power Windows.
   
7. They love synthesizers and crunchy guitars. And they put them together all of the time.
   
8. They have a singer that shrieks like a wizard-banshee.
9. They write a lot of atheist anthems.
10. They also write songs about black holes, battles between trees, snow dogs and By-Tors and races between air cars and antique automobiles in a not so distant dystopian future.
11. Their drummer writes the lyrics.
    
12. They are Canadian.
13. They don't take themselves too seriously (at least, not anymore).
14. They are best friends and you can feel it in their performances.
15. They have never had a #1 single in any country, don't get played much on the radio or television, yet they have developed a cult-like following that continues to flock to their live shows.
16. There's no line for the ladies bathroom at a Rush show. Doesn't really help me out, but it seemed like the few ladies who braved the show appreciated this.

The Gateway To Rush
A lot of people say, "Yeah, I've heard a few songs but Rush never appealed to me," or "I can't stand their singer." O.k. I've got a plan. Here's how you get into Rush. First, purchase a vinyl copy (or CD or MP3) of their 1980 album Permanent Waves. Second, get yourself some of those earmuff looking headphones from the 70s - the kind that block out all aural reality. Turn out the lights, place the needle of your record player on side one of the LP, lie down on the floor and pretend that you're floating in a black oblivion. Listen to the entirety of side one - to the end of Jacob's Ladder.

If you enjoyed this experience, e-mail me and I'll be happy to burn you a compilation of my favorite Rush songs.

- Bobby Shaddox

Elbow's Subtle & Rewarding Allure

This week, Elbow's Seldom Seen Kid has been my go to album. It's strangely hypnotic sounds and rhythms gradually grow on you with each listen. I first became aware of them riding around the Tube in London. Posters for a summer music festival touted them as headliners. My curiosity peaked, I downloaded this 2008 release as soon as I got home from my trip. However, It took me about a two weeks to really get into the album. At first only two songs grabbed me: Mirrorball and Grounds For Divorce. The first is a lilting, airy number built around a looping piano part that guides you through a musical cosmos of strings, soulful chorus vocals and spacey guitars. Grounds For Divorce begins as a bluesy stomper, but swiftly slides into a poppy chorus that explodes into a heavy rock riff a la Radiohead. These two songs are but a sampling of the diverse sounds and concepts captured in this sleeper of an album.

At first, I found myself too distracted to listen to the entire album. I'd sit still for Mirrorball, but quickly find myself selecting something more immediate or uptempo - like last week's pick: Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

One night I went to sleep listening to the album with headphones and I think it did something to me on a deeply subliminal level. I awoke with a vague notion of the songs, but couldn't really remember any of the specifics - just an overall sense of the music. Subsequent listenings allowed the more subtle, mysterious portions of the album to come alive for my ears - Weather to Fly and Some Riot.

Stumbling on an album like this has deep rewards. The process of "getting it" has been really interesting, causing me to think about music in different ways and to reassess my own tastes.

Elbow, a Mancunian outfit (seriously, what's in the water up there?), is a band in the vein of Radiohead or Coldplay, but not really. The vocalist, Guy Garvey (an admitted Peter Gabriel era Genesis fanatic) does sound a lot like Peter Gabriel in some moments.

Check out this live video of Mirrorball performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios - a lovely arrangement.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads

Committing to a music documentary or biopic on Netflix is one of the hardest things for me to do. I've literally spent hours flipping through titles and considering whether or not to devote an hour or two of my life watching a movie about a band or musical genre. It's a bit like, "Hmmm. John Coltrane, yeah. That looks good. But it's 96 minutes. Hmmm. Maybe not." Ironically, I spend more time hemming and hawing than actually watching the damn movies.

So last night I decided on this movie called "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (a film about Ian Dury and the Blockheads). I'd just returned from a trip to England and had seen this guy's music all over the shops. I gave it a whirl. I highly recommend the movie - a whirling story of what it says in the title, interwoven with live performances and memoryscapes. In fact, it was so good, that I downloaded Ian Dury's greatest hits. I toyed with the idea of buying a proper album, but wanted to get the best deal - 20 songs for $6.

So, why should you listen to Ian Dury?
1) If Tom Waits meets drunk pub-pirate sounds good to you.
2) If you're interested in the transitional period of rock called New Wave.
3) If you're a lyrics person and you specifically like British songwriters who focus on mundane characters and banal lifestyles like Ray Davies, Paul Weller or Damon Albarn.
4) Surprisingly, if you like your disco with a teaspoon of punk.

Check it out.